Li Chun (立春) dates and times, 1900–2100

Why Li Chun matters in Bazi

Li Chun (立春, “establishing of spring”) is the first of the 24 solar terms. It is the moment the Sun reaches ecliptic longitude 315°. Bazi takes it as the start of the year, so someone born on 1 February is still counted in the previous year’s pillar and animal, even if Chinese New Year has already passed — or the reverse, if Chinese New Year falls later than Li Chun. Li Chun also starts the first month, 寅. The classical texts set the month by these solar “nodes” (节), not by the lunar calendar.

For 2026 the Start of Spring was 2026-02-04 04:02 Beijing time (2026-02-03 20:02 UTC), beginning the year 丙午 (Horse). For 2027 it is 2027-02-04 09:46 Beijing time (2027-02-04 01:46 UTC), beginning 丁未 (Goat).

How to use the table

• Times are given in Beijing time (UTC+8), the convention of Chinese almanacs, and in UTC. To get your local time, add your UTC offset to the UTC column (for example New York in February is UTC−5: subtract five hours).
• If you were born within a few hours of Li Chun, check carefully in your own time zone — the date can differ by one day from the Beijing date.
• Year pillar and animal shown are those that begin at that moment.
• Easiest: enter your birth details in the calculator, which uses the exact instant and your historical time zone automatically.

Accuracy and sources

Times were computed with the open-source lunar-javascript astronomical algorithm, the same engine our calculator uses, and rounded down to the minute. We checked every date from 1901 to 2100 against the Hong Kong Observatory’s Gregorian–Lunar calendar conversion tables: all 200 dates agree. Minute-level times from different almanacs can differ by a minute or two because of rounding and the model of Earth’s rotation used for historical and future years (ΔT), so treat times within a few minutes of a birth as uncertain.

The table

1900–1919

1920–1939

1940–1959

1960–1979

1980–1999

2000–2019

2020–2039

2040–2059

2060–2079

2080–2099

2100–2100

Common questions

Is Li Chun the same as Chinese New Year?

No. Chinese New Year is the new moon of the lunar calendar and moves between about 21 January and 20 February. Li Chun is solar and falls on 3, 4 or 5 February. Bazi uses Li Chun; popular zodiac charts often use New Year, which is why they sometimes disagree.

Which year am I if I was born on 4 February?

Look up your year above and convert the time to your birth time zone. If you were born before that moment you belong to the previous year pillar. Our true solar time guide explains why the clock time of birth matters.

What are the other solar terms?

See the 24 solar terms guide. The 12 “node” terms (节) — 立春, 惊蛰, 清明 and so on — start each Bazi month, and the luck pillars are timed by the distance from birth to the nearest one.

Keep learning

Classical quotations are copied from the public-domain texts on Wikisource; links let you check every line. English translations are our own. Traditional Bazi statements are reported as tradition, not as fact.